GAME NOTES: A couple of Georgia-based programs with identical records get
together at Hanner Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon, as the Georgia State
Panthers drop in on the Georgia Southern Eagles in non-conference action.

With Colonial Athletic Association play just around the corner, the Panthers
are trying to snap a three-game slide this weekend after losing to Rhode
Island on the road, 65-60, last Saturday.

As for the Eagles, they suffered their most lopsided defeat since the season
opener against Valparaiso (85-54) when they bowed to North Florida two days
before Christmas, 74-46. The loss was the second in the last three outings for
a program which competes in the Southern Conference and is already 0-2 in such
matchups.

Georgia Southern owns a 31-13 lead in the all-time series, although the
Panthers have won four of the last five encounters. The most recent decision
last December, 72-52, went in favor of Georgia State at home.

Now two games under .500, the Panthers have lost their last three outings by a
combined eight points, even with R.J. Hunter delivering 23 points versus
Rhode Island in the most recent contest. Devonta White and Manny Atkins both
tallied 14 points, the latter clearing a team-best nine rebounds and
accounting for all but one of the unit's five offensive boards along the way.
Playing close to 33 minutes per game, Hunter has made the most 3-pointers (26)
of anyone on the team and that's why he leads the program with 15.6 ppg. White
(14.7 ppg) and Atkins (13.2 ppg) have combined with Hunter to generate 63 of
the team's 72 made 3-pointers and 82 of their 129 assists which indicates that
the threesome is almost always involved in the action at the offensive end of
the floor.

On the road in Las Vegas and playing in Orleans Arena, the Eagles were
completely overmatched by North Florida, Georgia Southern scoring just 19
points in the first half and shooting a season-low 31.5 percent from the floor
for the entire game and 1-of-6 beyond the arc. Tre Bussey tallied 12 points
and six rebounds and Eric Ferguson responded with 10 points as he reached
1,000 points for his career, but by no means was it enough as the Eagles
allowed the opposition to make good on 12-of-24 on the perimeter. Allowing
North Florida to shoot 53.6 percent from the field means the team's run of
limiting four straight opponents to less than 40 percent from the floor came
to an end. Ferguson paces the program in both scoring (14.2 ppg) and
rebounding (7.5 rpg) at the moment, not to mention leading the group with 10
steals and 10 blocked shots, but at the same time he has more turnovers (36)
than anyone else on the unit too.

With several close calls of late, it is only a matter of time before the
Panthers get back on the winning track, and that time should be this weekend.